Crossroads
by Yoshumari Korisuno
Summary: A stranger comes to Game Central Station and invites Venellope and Ralph back to her game for a visit and to answer and challenge in the wondrous world of the Xbox 360: Need For Speed Carbon. But something goes wrong, and now the two of them have only 14 hours to find a way out before thier games are unplugged from Litwak's for good (Elements used from Vyntresser with permission)
1. Prologue

**This is a tale that was inspired by a picture drawn by Vyntresser on her dA, and borrows some elements of her fiction "Wrecking Limits". (yes I asked first). Enjoy! **

It had been one long day at Litwack's: that particular day had been reserved for a birthday party that housed nearly 40 sugar hyped 10-12 year olds, all pounding, jerking and slamming the buttons on every game. Fix-It Felix Jr. was no exception leaving Felix, Ralph and the Nice Landers exhausted.

"Oh man that left me beat. You sure you didn't pull some of those moves on your own?" Ralph asked, slumping down onto the makeshift couch he had made just off screen where everyone gathered for a Barbeque.

"Ahm tellin' you brother, that lahst user had me moving faster than Mario after fallin' into a lava pit. I was startin' to wonder if ah would make it through the day. Sorry If I tuckered you out." Felix called as he flipped a set of burgers from the grill to a large plate when Vanellepe and her sister Taffyta called out their greeting after getting of the trusty game train. Despite Ralph's tiredness, he pulled his massive self from the couch and lumbered over to them hugging Taff then giving Vanellope a quick kiss on the lips while walking back to the rest of the gang.

"Ah still have to make a double take every time ah see you Vanellepe. Your game upgrade sure did wonders for you." Felix complimented, walking back to his place next to Calhoun at the picnic table.

"Well, It just means that I won't be seen as a little kid anymore." she laughed as they all began passing out paper plates and picking up whatever looked good while their conversation was kept up, even through the stuffed mouths and muffled words. Even when the food was gone and most of the trash had been dealt with, the group of them still talked on and on late into the night, until Gene called from his penthouse that they were keeping the rest of them up with their loud talking.

"I guess it is getting kinda late: I gotta be up in another few hours." Calhoun called, stretching as she stood making her back crack a few times.

"Why do you need to be up so early?" Ralph asked, casually swinging his arm over Vanellope's shoulders.

"That plasma rifle ain't gonna clean the gunk outta itself Wreck-it. Besides, I need time to get the lazy mama's boys outta bed in time for the first quarter drop." She said with a bit of a drawl when Felix jumped up and took her hand as he walked her to the train.

"Welp, I should probably get going too. You know how Taff gets when she hasn't had all her Z's."

"I heard that!" Taffyta called making Ralph chuckle under his breath, walking the two of them back to the train before it left for Game Central Station where Calhoun and the Sugar racers said their goodbyes, heading towards their own games.

"So, which of us do you think will be on the racing roster for tomorrow?" Taffyta asked with a sigh as she sat down.

"I know I will be for sure." Vanellope said with a laugh.

"You're always on the roster!" Taffyta protested, only to be met with laughs, after which they discussed racing strategies and driving lines they would use when they weren't picked to be the user's avatar. When the next morning broke, all of the Sugar Rush racers were already zipping around the Start Finish line to find out who would be in the Avatar Selection roster when Taffyta happened to cast a glance out the front glass of their cabinet. Litwak was unlocking the doors as usual, but there was also a younger boy with him who had a small black box under his arm sporting a shiny chrome dot in the center of the slim side of it. She tugged on Vanellopes arm, pointing out the box to her as the boy went in to the back room where she and her sister saw the polished black letters shine across the front: Xbox 360.

"I wonder what kinda game that is." Taffyta said mostly to herself as she walked back to her car.

"I don't know, but you better get your head in the race if you wanna make the roster today!" Vanellope called as she jumped into her crazy cart, pushing in the clutch and revving the high pitched engine waiting for the lights to count down, shifting her cart into third gear. Just as the green light shone, she yanked her left foot back and slammed her right to the floor. Per the start boost, her cart's pipes were lit ablaze with bright blue fire and confetti rocketing her into a far lead. Some of the others didn't time it right and spun their tires, having to down shift and start from first gear, or didn't try for the start boost and still pulled ahead of those that had missed the start. Ralph and Felix walked into the crowd to watch since there was still time to spare before the first quarter alert usually came around. However the race was rather uneventful and all fifteen racers made it across the finish line, which included with little surprise, Vanellope in the top spot.

Ralph would have like to stay longer, but since it was the weekend, he knew that there would be a quarter alert soon, and so began heading back to his game when the two of them were stopped by Vanelle when she saw then shuffling out of the grandstands.

"Hey you two, I didn't know that you were here; you should have called ahead and I would have gotten you seats in the VIP lounge." She called, hugging Ralph as best she could despite her arms unable to reach around his person, even with her upgraded form.

"Well, we just thought that since there was a little time before the arcade opened up that we'd come to watch the roster race." He said cheerfully when the one minute warning call until opening time sounded. Felix began running back for the exit, as was Ralph until he was stopped by a firm yank on his flannel collar and given a quick peck on the cheek.

"Good luck out there!" Vanelle called as he left, waving his massive hands as he ran after Felix.

"Do you think we'll get to see who ever is from that 'xbox' game after hours?" Taffyta asked, taking off her helmet and brushing aside her platinum hair.

"I don't know; we'll see if we can find out. Right now, I just wanna race." Vanellope answered, trotting back to her car when a quarter alert sounded and a small light blinked on in Taffyta's car.

"Looks like I'm in User's control this time! I'll see you at the finish line!" she called, adjusting her goggles one last time making Vanellope give her a doubting look.

"You? Beat me?" Taffyta only laughed as the user picked the final choices and the camera came flying in from above behind Taff's car.

"_I'll show you that I'm the best racer here._" Vanellope thought to herself, pulling the straps of her seatbelt tight one last time before the countdown started. Once again, she pushed in the clutch, shifted into third and waited with pounding heart for the green light to show, shifting her feet and rocketing far into the lead once again and leaving Taffyta with her user driver far behind.


	2. Chapter 1: Carbon Canyon

Ben had been called by his uncle to come and help with the arcade that he ran, especially since the guy was getting up in his years and he couldn't move around like he used to. However the one thing that he enjoyed about coming to this arcade in particular was that his uncle would let him bring his Xbox, playing endless hours on his own games that didn't require money to be spent. That is until the old guy needed help with the concessions or the ticket counter handing out small prizes and then would go right back to his own games. This time in particular, Ben brought with him four games: Halo 4, Battlefield 3, Injustice: Gods Among Us, and Need For Speed Carbon.

Despite being the weekend, it was always slow in the mornings. But come around two in the afternoon and the place was swarming with kids, all grabbing for quarters and jamming them into the slots, pounding on buttons, peddles and other various inputs which kept Ben and Litwak busy. During short times that he had free, Ben would retreat to the back room for a few minutes and play as far through the storyline as he could before putting down the controller and checking on the arcade. On one of these particular pauses, he decided to put NFS Carbon in. It had been a while since he had last played it, but being that he was coming up on the age of sixteen, his dreams of owning his of fire breathing ride were only livable through the no holds barred world of racing games. Just as he pushed the button to close the disc drive, Happy Hour began meaning that every kid that came through the door was treated to two free sodas and a dollar's worth of quarters which would keep Ben busy the rest of the night.

In his hurry to get out and help, he forgot to turn the Xbox off, letting the producer's title screen play through and the warning to players that all street racing done in the game was to be kept in the game only. When Happy Hour was over and the arcade closed at six-thirty, the arcade turned into a ghost town of bubbling game sounds, sticky game consoles and empty paper cups. Between the two of them, Litwak and Ben had the place cleaned up, the cabinets wiped of their spilled soda and the trash taken out by seven fifteen, locking up at seven thirty and leaving for the night.

"Oh! Dang it, I left the Xbox on in the back room." Ben sighed, turning to go back as Litwak reached for his keys when the thought struck Ben.

"Oh wait, I have the auto off engaged. Never mind, it'll shut off after about three hours, it'll be fine." he called, as Litwak shrugged and went back to his car. Meanwhile in the back room, one of the characters from NFS Carbon, popped up in the screen cupping her hands around her face looking out into the room from the TV screen. Her tinted blue hair was tied in twin pigtails, wiggling and swinging around as she looked around.

"You see anything Yumi?" called a voice.

"Not really, it just looks like a back room to an arcade." Yumi called back.

"Well that's just great, we're spun up just to be left to shut off after three hours: how boring is that! We can drive around but we can't race without someone playing." Called a male voice, adjusting the leather jacket and his golfer's hat as he walked up to them.

"Cool your jets Darius. It's not like we're stuck here." Yumi called as she jumped down from the screen when the title sequence started and returned to where Darius waited with Nikki, an attractive brunette dressed in a blue shirt and tope skirt, covered with a red leather jacket.

"What do you mean 'not trapped'? We can't go anywhere, we're stuck here!" Darius yelled, walking back to his car and leaning on the roof.

"I talked to a friend of mine from the Hard Drive who said that she uses the power supply to visit other games around the world, she even showed me the way." Yumi said which peaked Darius's interest, wiggling his square jaw back and forth a bit as he thought.

"You know how to navigate the power supply?" Nikki questioned.

"Sure, it's not that hard really. Look, I'll go and check it out and see who I can find. Maybe we can even have a Quick Race or two." Darius smiled, but Nikki was worried: she had seen that look on his face before, and it was never good when he smiled like that.

"Go ahead, I'll keep my engine warm." He urged opening the door if his Audi R8 and plopping down in the seat.

"I could use a new challenge: I've been beaten so many times that I've lost count and that's just on this xbox. Frankly, I'm growing tired of it." Darius commented as Nikki walked up to his open door.

"You know that _he _is probably going to get involved right?" she warned, making Darius get out of his car and come very close to Nikki's face.

"If he does, I'll just make sure that he regrets it." He answered matter-o-factly, when a powerful v-8 growl could be heard coming through the streets, slowing down to where they were parked.

"Speak of the devil…" Nikki commented as a chopped top corvette pulled in front of them, revving the highly modified engine that was loud enough to make the windows in the shops rattle until the driver shut the engine off, the smell of high octane fuel hanging in the air as the driver got out.

"Well well well, if it isn't my old friend Darius." The driver called, brushing his shoulder length hair out of his face.

"What do you want Dragon? You know it's been months since you beat me." Darius huffed and Dragon turned and watched Yumi peel out of the garage in her green and black Subaru.

"I know I know… I just came by to say hi. Can't I do that?" Dragon asked.

"You've done that, now go." Darius huffed making Dragon shake his head.

"Alright, I'll see you around then." Dragon called, dropping back down into his vette and starting it with a roar, dropping the clutch as flames leapt from the short pipes just behind the front tires and the smell of burnt Nitrous Oxide hung in the air. When they could no longer hear the engine, Nikki looked over to Darius and smiled slyly.

"Oh yeah, he's getting involved."

* * *

"Oh, hey there Yumi, I didn't hear you come in. Going out for a bit again?" the man called, getting up from the desk and looking through his key ring as he walked to a door marked 'To Plug'.

"Yeah, just for a bit. I might bring back a friend or two so just be ready." She called as the man unlocked the door.

"Alright, I will. Just be careful out there; we're plugged into an outlet that I don't recognize."

"I will!" Yumi laughed, grabbing her modified skateboard that allowed her to travel the plugs and power cords in style and disappeared down the dark tube-like hall way, traveling along the main power line until she saw an exit saying "Game Central Station". It wasn't long before she found herself in a station of sorts with tunnels leading to different places, or games she assumed since there was a different game title above each tunnel: Dance Dance Revolution, Pac Man, House of the Dead 3, Fix-it Felix and Sugar Rush.

"This place looks promising." Yumi said low to herself. She happened to see two avatars walking out of the tunnel marked 'Fix-it Felix'; an enormous, chunky guy with hands the size of a beach ball, and a smaller, trim girl dressed in a mint green hoodie jacket with racing patches and candy pieces dotting her hair. The both of them looked pretty friendly, but Yumi could tell that they weren't from the same game: the guy looked to have a pitiful 8-bit resolution, while the girl looked to be from a game that had at least a 16 to 24 bit range.

"_Hmmm… I wonder_." Yumi though to herself, walking over to them and overhearing the last bit of their conversation:

"…you will always be part of who I am. You were the first one that really talked to me in such a long time, and I'm not going to let that go so easily." The guy finished, when he was suddenly aware of another woman's presence.

"Yes? Can I help you?" Ralph asked with a hint of agitation in his voice.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. Name's Yumi, and I was wondering if you raced." She asked, pointing to Vanellope.

"Sure do. And I'm the best at it to. You don't look like you're from around the arcade: your resolution's WAY too high." Vanellope answered making Yumi chuckle to herself.

"You're right, I not from this arcade. I'm actually from a home consol called Xbox 360…"

"Oh! You're from that black box I saw this morning being brought in to the back room right?"

"That'd be me. My game's Need for Speed Carbon, and I was sent to look for some people to race. One of our characters has been beaten so many times that he's beginning to lose his edge and thinks that if he were to beat someone from another game that it would help him get his edge back." Yumi explained. Vanellope was intrigued, but Ralph pulled her back a bit a spoke low into her ear.

"I don't like this, something isn't right."

"Oh calm down Stink Brain, it's not like we're going to have another Rancis incident."

"That's not what I mean, she's not telling us everything. Besides, this Xbox 360 she claims to be from sounds like its WAY off grid. If we get stuck there, our games will be unplugged for good and we'll both have a game over."

"Ralph, come on, it's just one race. Besides, I'm getting a bored racing in Sugar Rush since I know what all the racers there will do." Vanellope answered in a huff, walking past Ralph back to Yumi.

"Sure, I'll take on this character of yours. Is he good?" she asked with a smirk, feeling that her own skills were going to get her the win.

"Yeah, he's pretty good. 2nd best in the entire game." The last sentence made Vanellope raise her eyebrows as Ralph came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder as if to ask her to reconsider.

"Who's the absolute best?" Vanellope asked. Yumi shrugged her shoulders.

"His name's Dragon, but he shows up when he wants to. No one can really pin him down." With a nod Vanelle agreed and began following after Yumi, Ralph close behind: something about this Need for Speed Carbon didn't sit right with him and he was going to go with them and make sure that nothing was going to happen. As he first thought, the Xbox was indeed WAY off grid, all the way passed the back of the arcade where tales of games coming here and never returning ran rampant. But despite its bad reputation, Yumi led them back through the 'Power Brick' and into the back entrance to the game, dematerializing through the door in the brick leading into the consol.

"Vanellope, I still think this is a REALLY bad idea, we can still go back…"

"Ralph, seriously. It's only one race. If I win, I win, if not, then we'll just go home." She reassured, putting her hand in his massive one and putting a hand on his chest.

"Besides, I'll have you to protect me." Ralph sighed, looking up at the door that led out: Once Vanellope had made up her mind about something there was no getting away from it. With a reluctant nod, the two of them began jumping through, dematerializing for a moment and rematerializing on the other side next to the power core of bubbling green goo.

"Whoa! Check me out!" Vanellope said, looking over her figure which had changed again, filling slightly in some places making her slight hour-glass figure become more pronounced. Her jacket was still the same, but her shit had become shorter to reveal her stomach as well as a small peppermint bellybutton ring.

"What in the…" Ralph however had undergone the biggest of changes; no longer was he the oversized handed brute: he looked almost normal. His broad shoulders pushed hard against the rolled sleeved, unbuttoned flannel shirt, while his bulging arm muscles tried to rip the sleeves apart every time he flexed his arm. His tee was pulled tight over his ripped eight pack, and his wild hair had been gelled into spikes, while heavy leather boots appeared on his feet and comfortable, complete jeans.

"What the hell happened to me?!" Ralph yelled, looking at his hands which were still large, but compared to what he was used to were tiny.

"That happens to everyone who visits here: they change pretty drastically when they come to Carbon." A male voice commented from somewhere up ahead. Following the sound of the voice, they walked through an invisible wall and onto a street where Yumi, another girl and a guy all stood in the beams on the headlights, obscuring them from view.

"And who are you?" Ralph asked with a sneer when the lights were shut off and allowed them to see.

"Name's Darius. Yumi here tells me that you say you're the best racer in your game?" he asked apprehensively, pushing his tongue into his cheek, looking her up and down.

"You got that right buster. And Yumi tells me that you're only second best?" As Vanellope spoke she caught a glimpse of Yumi wiggling her hand back and forth across her neck until Darius looked back and she quickly put her hands behind her innocently.

"Then Yumi is wrong. I _am_ the best racer here. But as of late, I've been feeling, like I've been losing my edge a bit and wanted a refresher course."

"Done, where are the race cars?" Vanellope asked, rubbing her hands together in anticipation.

"Well, mine is right here." Darius said smugly, patting the front fender of his red and black Audi.

"_THAT_ is a race car?" Vanellope asked with surprise.

"In a way, you'd be astounded the kind of power one of these has. Though, it's probably not as much as what's stored in those hips of yours." Darius laughed with a smug smile. Ralph stepped up to him going red in the face.

"What's the matter tough guy?" Darius prodded, making Ralph all the more angry until Vanellope touched his shoulder and gave him a firm glare making him back down.

"Sorry, but I'm already taken. So where's my cart?" she asked, looking around the area for something that looked like it was what she was going to be using.

"You mean you didn't bring your own car?" Darius laughed, almost knowingly as he crossed his arms and looked to Yumi.

"I thought you said that she was a driver."

"She is! I just didn't think she'd have to bring her own car." Yumi protested.

"Well then, it looks like you're stuck here until you can beat me." Darius laughed until a loud roar came around the corner, fire billowing from the side pipes of a chrome white Corvette covered in red and black tribal style decals when the driver let off the throttle and slowed to a stop just behind Darius's car and stood up, almost yelling over the throaty, lumpy idle of the engine.

"Darius, I heard there were some new people in town!" the man said as he reached inside and turned off the car.

"Yeah, these are them. Unfortunately, only one of them knows how to drive and didn't bring her own car. So now she'll HAVE to stay until she beats me."

"Darius, you know as well as I do that isn't the rule of this game. Besides, you just want a refresher course, remember?"

"Well I changed my mind." Darius sneered, holding his arms wide while someone stepped between Vanellope, Ralph and the invisible wall.

"Cross, what are you doing?" another woman called, walking up to the man standing behind them.

"You heard Darius, you guys can't leave until you beat him. I just here to make sure that you stay here until that happens." Cross said.

"This is ridiculous! I don't even have a car, and I have to get back to my game. Another time maybe Darius." Vanellope called as she tried to leave, but instead bounced off the invisible wall and hit the ground.

"Kid! What did you do to her?!" Ralph bellowed, running up to cross with furrowed brow and clenched fists.

"As I said before, I'm just here to make sure that you stay until Darius is beaten." Cross replied making Ralph lose his temper, rushing at him and jumping into the air bringing both his fist down hard on the ground. However instead of his usual ability to brutally smash the ground under his fists, shooting pains stung his hands and arms making him collapse to the ground howling in pain while Vanellope ran to him to assess what was wrong.

"That the thing about this game: any abilities or powers that you had before you came here are gone. I don't know what you were going to do, but I think that you should go to the hospital and have your hands looked at since their probably broken." Darius informed them as he turned and dropped down into the driver's seat of his car.

"Hold on now Darius. You're not giving the lady here a fair chance." Dragon called, walking around his car and over to him, preventing him from closing the door.

"She didn't bring her own car, and now she's going to have to take the long way to get to me."

"No, the deal was that she had to beat you and she could leave." Dragon shot back, sighing hard and looking Darius square in the eyes.

"Here's the deal: She can borrow one of my cars in a canyon race, and when she wins, she goes free." Darius smiled, pointing his finger in Dragon's face.

"Ah, but when I beat her, she'll have to start at the bottom and _earn_ her right to challenge me again." Vanellope heard the deal and turned back to Darius with a smug grin.

"You? Beat Me? I'm the best racer in my game, there's no way you'd beat me." Ralph sat up and bumped his head against her leg.

"Vanelleope, don't…"

"I know what I'm doing Ralph." She shot to him, kneeling down again and looking over his red hands.

"I'll call you in a couple hours and we'll meet in Carbon Canyon to settle this. You guys are with me; we'll get his hands looked at first." He called to Vanelle and Ralph, opening the passenger side door and pushing the seat all the way back allowing Ralph to sit down with Vanellope in his lap. As they drove away, Nikki walked up to Darius and shook her head.

"What? This way I'll back on top as the best driver in all of Palmont."

"Dragon already beat you Darius, you're not the top racer anymore." Nikki argued, but Darius only laughed.

"That was another file. She'll have to create an entire new game when she loses, and that puts me back at the top."

* * *

The whine of the supercharger slowly descended in pitch as they stopped in front of what looked to be an old abandoned show room garage, easing under the garage door that closed with a hard slam just after they had gone through.

"Are you sure we're ok here?" Vanellope asked, peeling her fingers from the handle on the roof and making sure that her steps were firm as she got out, still shaken from high speed police chase they had been through after taking Ralph to see a doctor.

"We're fine, just so long as I drive another car for a while. In any case, you're lucky Ralph that you didn't break your hands; you're gonna need them here." Dragon said cryptically as he walked into an office, pulled out the drawer of a filing cabinet and traded his keys.

"What are you talking about? All I need to do is beat Darius and we can go home; Ralph won't need to drive." Vanellope argued, shifting her weight to one leg and crossing her arms as she stood in the doorway waiting for an explanation.

"It's not as simple as you think: you _can_ die here if you're not careful. I've done the research on your game Sugar Rush and compared to this game, you know nothing about racing." Dragon surmised as he walked over to a covered Black 67 Camero, just as modified as the Vette.

"You're crazy! This smartie is the best racer I know." Ralph argued, spinning Dragon around with a hard pull.

"She's the best racer in a supped up go-kart. The cars here can go in upward of 220 miles per hour; one little mistake you'll be plastered all over the road. Her cart top out at 50, _maybe _60." Dragon shot back, his eyes wandering over to a twisted pile of metal in the corner, some of the gold paint having been scraped off if it hadn't been burnt, pointing to it to draw their attention.

"I keep that there as a reminder. The guy's name was Jason. He'd accepted the challenge just as you did, and almost won too. But Darius didn't want to keep his agreement and so rammed him, sending him skidding through the railing into the canyon below, all 270 feet of it." Vanellope looked to the twisted pile of carbon fiber and aluminum.

"Outside of the storyline, Darius will use any and every means to win, even if it means you get a game over." Vanellope looked up to Ralph and then back to the twisted pile, suddenly asking herself what it was that she had gotten herself into.

"There is still time though if you want to just start from the beginning and work your way up the ranks, but it's going to be a long time before you can."

"I'll take him on, just to wipe that smug smile off his face." Vanellope sneered, walking to the pile and placing a hand on what remained of the front valance, wiping the soot away from the Subaru manufacture's badge.

"Alright, if that's what you want you're gonna need all the help you can get." Dragon called from somewhere in the dark, flipping on a light and reveling three cars glinting under the lights.

"These are the best cars that I have that can help you: The blue-black one is a Mercedes SLR Mclaren, Toyota Supra TT is the dark red one, or the green Nissan Skyline." Vanellope and Ralph stood almost in shock for a long while admiring the low, wide stance of all three cars. As if they called to her, Vanellope walked to them, running her hands over the front fender of the Skyline, looking inside the cab and over the sexy, woman-like body lines, more so taken aback by the freakishly high resolution these cars were in.

"Which one is the fastest?" Vanellope asked when she finally caught herself.

"Out of these three, it's the Mercedes. However, I would like you to consider this: You are going to be racing on a canyon road; not many places to have a lot of speed. If I were you, I would pick the Skyline. It has an insane rev range and I've tuned it to stick to the road like glue." Vanellope looked over the choices she was given, her gaze lingering on the Mercedes and then back to the Skyline.

"I'm still going to take the Mercedes." She said confidently.

"Vanellope, you might want to listen to this guy. He's been racing here in this game his whole life, so maybe he knows a thing or two about what you're gonna need." Ralph suggested, putting his hands on the hood of the car, lifting his eyebrows and turning his eyes to the Skyline.

"She's a race driver: albeit a slow one, but she'll adapt." Dragon called, walking back with the keys of the car, popping the handle of the bat-wing door and holding out the keys. With a caring gesture she put a hand on Ralph's chest and kissed his cheek.

"I know what I'm doing Stink Brain." She laughed, taking the keys and dropping into the leather seat, adjusting it and the steering wheel to her liking with Dragon's help. Once she figured out where the key needed to be, she took a nervous breath and pressed in the clutch, suddenly surprised by how stiff it was.

"What's going on here? What's the matter with the clutch?" Dragon raised an eyebrow, trading places with her for a moment and pressing the peddle.

"There shouldn't be anything wrong with it; I just had it changed last week." Vanellope sat back down and pressed it in again; almost having to grunt each time she pushed it in.

"Oh, I see what the matter is: one, the car isn't on. Without that, the clutch is pretty damn heavy. Two, it's actually supposed to be a bit heavy because of the horsepower this thing has." Vanellope nodded her understanding she once again pushed in the clutch and started the engine. The high pitched starter cranked over a few times until the garage erupted into a roar of engine sound, tiny puffs of flames shooting out from the short exhaust tips right behind the front tire.

"I'm going to take Ralph with me in my car to give you a chance to get a feel for this thing while we drive to the canyon. It's pretty sensitive so just take it easy for a while." Dragon almost yelled over the exhaust noise, closing the door and sealing her within a quiet cell.

"Is she going to be alright?" Ralph asked as he walked back to the camero with Dragon and slumped down into the seat.

"It's not her racing ability I'm worried about." Dragon replied, starting his car with another roar of exhaust notes, slowly pulling out onto the street with Vanellope close behind.

"What's really going to happen out there? What kind of danger did you put Vanellope in?!" Ralph asked angrily.

"It wasn't me who got you into this situation. I'm trying to help you out here. But I need to warn you that if your girlfriend looses, she's not the only one going to have to race to the top." Dragon replied, looking in his rearview and then down at the speedometer, keeping it at a steady 70.

"What do you mean? You're not making any sense."

"I mean that you're going to have to drive as well." Dragon shot back dryly, looking back in his mirror again and shifting gears.

"But I don't even know how to drive!" Ralph shouted, banging on the dashboard hard enough that the vinyl cracked a bit.

"Hey, take it easy. Most of the players that play don't know how to drive either. I should know since I'm always the player's avatar." Dragon replied, looking back again before pushing a button on the dash and bringing up a screen showing Vanellope inside her car.

"How you doin' back there?" Dragon called, making Vanellope jump a bit and yank the wheel around before gaining control again.

"It's like you said, this thing is pretty sensitive, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. By the way, what's this little red button on the shifter?" she asked.

"Don't touch that button. When the time comes I'll show you but for now, don't touch it." Dragon reprimanded when a radio signal played in both cars.

_"All units, we have a possible I.D. on our suspect Dragon. A driver just saw him and another car racing through a 35 zone heading west on Mandarin St." _

"Shit, shit, shit! I don't need this right now." Dragon said, looking around and looking down at his screen, pressing a couple buttons and bringing up a smaller screen with four arrows, one of which pulsed a bright red to the left and up.

_"This is unit 319, I'm in the area and I'll check it out. Any idea what he's driving this time?"_

_"Suspect is driving a black camero, and is being followed by a black, possibly blue exotic."_

"Guys, what was that?" Vanellope asked, putting both hand on the wheel and becoming more alert.

"That was us having to move a little faster. Alright, listen up kid. I'm going to go faster, so try and keep up. I'll tell you which way we're going so you don't get lost. If we don't make that race you'll be stuck here to take the long way, got it? Dragon asked, down shifting his car.

"Yeah, yeah I think so." She replied, down shifting her car and looking ahead with focused eyes.

"Alright, here we go."

* * *

"Sounds like they had a little unexpected turn in events." Darius said calmly, smirking almost that they hadn't even gotten their first race over and already the girl was having trouble keeping the cops off their tail after hearing the police chatter.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Nikki asked with a disappointed tone.

"Outside of the storyline is the only time that I get to do what I want, when I want, so yeah, I'm enjoying myself." Daruis snapped when he heard the all too familiar rumble of Dragon's Camero coming over the hill in front of them with another car close behind.

"I didn't think you were going to make it." Darius laughed, picking his weight up from the fender of his car and holding his arms wide.

"Can it Darius." Dragon huffed, parking on the side of the road and walking over to Vanellope on the driver's side after she had turned around and came to a stop next to Darius' car.

"Remember, Darius doesn't play nice. Just get to the bottom of the hill first where we passed the others in one piece." Dragon said.

"I'm the best racer I know. There's no way he's gonna beat me." She said with a smirk. Dragon sighed and patted her shoulder, walking away from the car back to Ralph.

_"Be safe kid, not stupid._" Dragon thought as Darius started his own car, revving it a few times for intimidation. Vanellope was in her own world, pushing in the firm clutch and shifting the car into third, just like she had always done revving her own engine a few times, listening to its growling heartbeat as Dragon walked in front of the both of them. Holding up his arms, Darius rolled up his window and revved the high pitched again and again while Vanellope eased onto the gas, holding the car at 3,000 rpm. Just as Dragon dropped his arms, Vanellope switched her footing hearing a wail of tire screeching for a moment, then felt the car jolt, heard it sputter then stumble to a stop while Darius's car could be heard fading into the distance. What had happened? Where was the starting boost that she was so familiar with? She was awakened by Dragon shaking her out of her trance, urging her to start the car and get moving. Quickly she punched the clutch to the floor, started the car again and this time started in first, peeling away from the starting line as she should have as the rear of the car fishtailed from side to side until she shifted, roaring down the side of the mountain to make up for lost time.

"Are you sure she's gonna be alright?" Ralph asked timidly. Dragon swallowed hard, not turning his head or answering his question. Meanwhile Darius swung through the corners, his brake rotors glowing red hot one each corner, or the tires protesting as he accelerated out of a corner, looking back periodically to see if the little shrew had caught him yet and smiled when he didn't see anything. Further back, Vanellope could be heard roaring around the corners, her tires billowing clouds of smoke as she drifted around each of the hard corners; down shifting, up shifting, brake, clutch, gas, clutch, gas, all in a fast paced rhythm matching her own racing heart beat. Soon she could see the tail lights of Darius' car, making her all the more determined to catch and beat him.

Within four corners, Vanellope had closed the distance that was between them, fire leaping from the side pipes of her car as she down shifted and mashed the accelerator to the floor, making the engine sputter and spit as it hit the rev limiter while drifting through a particularly tight corner and falling right into place directly behind Darius.

"Behind you." Vanellope called to herself looking through the back window to see Darius looking up in his review only to miss a corner's entrance in shock allowing Vanelleope to get to the inside and accelerate hard out of the corner, leaving Darius in the dust.

"In front of you." she sang to herself, drifting through the next long corner, catching herself just in time to brake hard and ease though the next tight left corner. Just as she was getting ready to set up the next right hand tight corner, she felt something bump into her passenger side and send her spinning towards the outside of the corner where a wall of painted yellow safety railing was coming up fast and beyond that, what appeared to be a dark abyss. Flashes of her nightmare life as a glitch within Sugar Rush flashed before her eyes when she found that King Candy was really Turbo, trying to smash her and her cart during the race that brought her life back to what it should have been.

"KID!" Dragon shouted, making her wake from her trance. With quick thinking Vanellope down shifted, grabbed onto the e-brake and pushed the brake pedal as hard as she could, stopping the car just as the nose pushed though the railing and her front tires barely on the road while hearing Darius accelerate off into the distance again. The car once again had died, but she quickly started it again and threw it into reverse, angry tire squeals echoing through the canyon as she brought it back on the road and once again chased after Darius who was already a few corners away from the last long stretch. However Vanelope managed to keep her speed up enough with drifting and power sliding to catch Darius again, both of them rocketing down the final straight as fire glared from their exhaust pipes. Looking over, Darius noticed that she was ever so slowly pulling ahead, and if it kept going like this, he would lose and remain at the bottom under Dragon!

"_I didn't get this far just to lose!_" he thought, opening his glove box and switching on his Nitrous Oxide system but to his dismay, the pressure gauge of his Nitrous read the bottle was empty. Vanellope began to smile when she saw that her car was pulling ahead, quickly changing the transmission into high gear, watching all of the multitude of gauges that she had no idea what they did rock one way then the other for a moment when she shifted. The finish line was in sight, and she was still pulling ahead when she heard a loud noise then felt her car jerk to the right, making her lose her grip on the wheel and send her careening into the canyon wall at 205 miles per hour. Her front tire first caught then climbed the canyon wall, launching her into the air and flipping onto her roof as Darius pulled ahead and streaked across the finish line. Vanellope on the other hand could do nothing as her car landed on the passenger side, flipping into the air again end over end as pieces began flying from the car. She flipped, rolled and slammed into the ground again and again as more and more pieces from the car disintegrated, until at last the car stopped in a heap of twisted carbon fiber and metal. Vanellope's head felt light as she opened her eyes to see the engine of the car on fire, her door missing and glass shards embedded in her arms and face. It felt as if it were all in slow motion as she watched Dragon and Ralph skid to a stop and run to her, pulling her out of the car before racing down the canyon road once again, held firmly in Ralph's arms.

"Did I win?" Vanellope asked weakly not hearing Ralph's response as she passed in and out of conciseness while lights raced by the window until they were in the garage once again, the smell of old gas and burnt oil being the only indicators. She let herself be positioned on a table while a third unfamiliar face came into view and began looking her over, pulling some of the glass fragments from her body as she looked around and reached for Ralph's hand. Images of her last race as a glitch kept passing through her mind when the cybugs began bursting from the ground, tossing her into the lollipop hedges and wrecking her cart.

"I'm fine, let's just finish this race…" she mumbled, when the third person put a hand on her head and pushed something into her arm, immediately making her relax and fall asleep.

Four Game Hours Later

"She a lucky girl Dragon: yes the accident knocked her around quite a bit, but there are no serious injuries, thank user." The doctor said as she cleaned her equipment. Dragon slumped down into a chair and put his hands into his face: this isn't what he wanted, especially not a repeat of Jason.

"She could have been killed you idiot!" Ralph roared, yanking him from his seat.

"I know that! I tried to warn her about what Darius was like!" Dragon shouted back, pushing Ralph's arms aside.

"Oh so just giving her a warning is good enough for you?! You saw her crash! You know how bad a shape she's in! And now thanks to you we're stuck here!"

"You and your girlfriend over there knew the risks! I made them very plain to you before she stepped into that car!" Dragon shouted in return as Ralph's face began to almost turn purple in his rage, slugging Dragon hard enough that it knocked him to the ground.

"If you EVER come near Vanellope again, I will make sure that your game over is permanent." Ralph threatened, but Dragon only chuckled, rubbing his jaw and getting back to his feet.

"That would be unwise. You see I know how to help you, and if you want to get out of this place at all, you're going to need my help." Ralph huffed and spit as he tried his hardest to keep from ending him right then and there as Dragon turned to leave.

"I'm going to search out some cars for you to use; I'll be back in a few game hours. About half an hour will have gone by in the real world, so you'll still have time to get back to your game; trust me, I want to help you get back to your game. You should stay by her while I'm gone; I'd hate to have her wake up in a strange game all alone." Dragon said as he left the garage in yet another car, leaving the two of them in the pale glow of the shop lights. Tenderly, Ralph took Vanellope's hand, shaking his head still trying to wrap his mind around how different the two of them now looked, yet still had the same code underneath it all.

"_Wait, Code! That's it!_" Ralph thought, but was too tired himself to really care and fell asleep at the table holding Vanellope's hand. Perhaps there wasn't such a long road ahead of them after all.


End file.
